Mobilizing Disability Experience to Inform Architectural Practice: Lessons Learned from a Field Study

Through their bodily interaction with the designed environment, disabled people can detect obstacles and appreciate spatial qualities architects may not be attuned to. While designers in several disciplines acknowledge disabled people as lead or critical users, in architectural practice their embodied experience is hardly recognized as a valuable resource for design. In this article, we therefore investigate what professional architects could learn from disabled people. To this end, the article reports on a field study, set up to explore ways of mobilizing disabled people’s embodied experience to inform architectural practice. Analysis of the field study’s outcome suggests that mobilizing this experience does not only add nuance to the existing accessibility standards, but also offers architects rich insights into building qualities that surpass these standards

Less Vision, More Senses. Towards a More Multisensory Design Approach in Architecture. (Less vision, more senses. Naar een meer multisensoriële ontwerpbenadering in architectuur.)

The built environment is often designed with a visual appreciation or function in mind, to such an extent that some attribute a visual bias to architecture and architectural practice. A possible explanation for this visual bias can be found in the widespread use of visualisation techniques and the underrepresented human body in architects design process. However, we interact with the built environment using our entire body and all of its senses. People with a visual impairment have to deal with an environment that is often inadequately designed for non-visual use. On the other hand, they have a nuanced knowledge of the non-visual qualities of their environment. In line with a cultural model of disability, the knowledge that people with a visual impairment have may also help to challenge prevailing practices and to overcome the visual bias in architecture.For this PhD we investigated how an interaction between architecture/architects and (a notion of) visual impairment/visually impaired people might lead to a more multisensory approach in how architects understand and design space. We conducted three retrospective case studies of design projects in which such kind of interaction is present and we set up one real time case study to investigate the inclusion of two blind user/experts in the design process of an architecture firm.To study these four cases we conducted interviews, observed and participated in design activities, and collected design documents. For the analysis of the collected material we departed from a literature review on the senses in architecture and on design processes with a focus on the mediating role of represenational artefacts used by architects. Firstly, a postphenomenological framework of perception departs from the premise that perception is based on a co-constitution between person and world. This allows an analysis of perception of space in which the building plays a role as well as the specific background and bodily state of the (visually impaired) person perceiving. Secondly, a situational framework of the design process as a social and material endeavour allows studying the mediating role of design artefacts and their use in involving visually impaired user/experts.The analyses of the multisensory space in the different cases, in terms of both how they were designed and how they are intended to be perceived, resulted in an extended notion of space in architecture. Space is typically defined by the sensory qualities of the different objects and building elements making up its boundaries. From the perceptions of the visually impaired persons involved in this research, however, we learned that space in itself is also a filled entity with its own sensory qualities. Furthermore, different sensory spaces interact. They may coincide or (partially) overlap, strengthening and/or contradicting each other, which adds to the possible complexity and differentiation of multisensory space.Two cases we studied were projects designed by an architect who lost his sight. From these two architects we learned how they adapted their design processes and design representations for non-visual use; and how to analyse and give shape to non-visual space. They learned to become affected by their changed body and translated this affect into their design tools. Via the notion of scale, we found a correlation between their haptic perception of the environment, the role of haptics in using and shaping design representations, and designing shapes intended to offer particular haptic qualities.With what we learned from the retrospective case studies we set up the involvement of two blind user/experts in the design process of an architecture firm. The involvement took shape as a joint site visit, a workshop around developing supporting visuo-haptic representational artefacts, an intermediary design meeting using said artefacts, and a presentation of the final design proposal. Especially during the site visit, multisensory qualities of the building site and existing buildings were easily discussed between the architects and the user/experts. During the design meeting the artefacts we created offered an interesting medium for (haptic) spatial exploration of the proposal, and a sufficient understanding of the design to formulate critiquing questions. However, the user/experts did not go as far as making actual design moves themselves. On the other hand, both architects and user/experts mentioned further opportunities for interaction later in the design process.Acknowledgments iii Abstract v Samenvatting vii Contents ix Figures xv 1 Overcoming a Visual Bias in Architecture 1 1 Architecture and the Human Body 2 1.1 Anthropomorphism through time 2 1.2 Functional organicism 3 1.3 Modernism 4 1.4 Ergonomics 6 1.5 The underrepresented body in the design process 8 2 A Visual Bias in Architecture 10 2.1 Western ocularcentrism 11 2.2 Ocularcentrism in the design process and design media 14 2.3 Critiques on architecture’s visual bias 16 3 Experience of People with a Visual Impairment 18 3.1 Models of disability 18 Definitions of impairment, disability and handicap 23 3.2 A critique on ocularcentrism from visually impaired people 27 3.3 Beyond critique: user/expertise in the cultural model 28 4 Research Questions 29 5 Thesis Outline 30 2 Architecture and the Senses 33 1 Perception and the Senses 34 1.1 The process of inference 35 1.2 Representationlist approach to perception versus (post)phenomenolgy 36 1.3 Multistability 38 1.4 Mediation 40 1.5 Perception in intentional movement 45 2 The Senses in Architectural Theory and Architecture 46 2.1 Rasmussen: perceiving architecture 46 2.2 Norberg-Schulz: architectural theory based on perception 48 2.3 Porter: the perception of space 51 2.4 Pallasmaa: overcoming a visual bias in architecture 52 2.5 Zumthor: atmosphere, sensations and object perception 54 3 Learning to Perceive with an Altered Body 56 4 Multisensory Processes 59 4.1 Similarities in sensory modalities 59 4.2 Perception as interacting sensory modalities 60 4.3 Multisensory object constancy 62 5 Concluding Remarks 63 3 Design Processes in Architecture 65 1 Design Representation 65 1.1 Model-based reasoning 66 1.2 A short history of representational artefacts in architectural design 67 1.3 Representational artefacts in contemporary design practice 71 1.4 Collectives of representational artefacts 74 A taxonomy of the representations made by architects 77 2 Mediation in the Design Process 79 2.1 Mediation of perception 79 2.2 Mediation of action 83 2.3 Mediation of cognition 86 3 Collective Design and the Involvement of Users(/Experts) 88 4 Concluding Remarks 91 4 Research Setup and Methodology 93 1 Case Study Research 94 1.1 Case selection 95 2 Retrospective Case Studies 98 2.1 Research setup and data collection 98 2.2 Collected data 100 3 Real-time Case Study 101 3.1 Research setup 101 3.2 Data collection and processing 102 4 Data Analysis and Validation 104 5 Detailed Overview of Collected Data 106 5 Four Cases of Visual Impairment Meeting Architecture 115 1 Glass House 2001 for a Blind Man, Penezić & Rogina Architects 116 1.1 Architects’ biography 117 1.2 Design brief 117 1.3 Client/users 119 1.4 Location 120 1.5 Concept 120 1.6 Spatial organisation 122 1.7 Presentation 123 1.8 Design process 125 2 Sea Bathing Facility, Carlos Mourão Pereira 126 2.1 Architect’s biography 126 2.2 Design brief 127 2.3 Client/users 127 2.4 Concept 127 2.5 Location 129 2.6 Spatial organisation 131 2.7 Presentation 132 2.8 Design process 133 3 Polytrauma and Blind Rehab Centre, Smith Group/The Design Partnership (Christopher Downey) 136 3.1 Architects’ biography 137 3.2 Design brief 137 3.3 Client/users 138 3.4 Location 139 3.5 Concept 140 3.6 Spatial organisation 141 3.7 Presentation 144 3.8 Design process 144 4 Lille Town Hall, ONO Architectuur 146 4.1 Architects’ and User/Experts’ biography 147 4.2 Design brief 147 4.3 Client/users 148 4.4 Location 149 4.5 Concept 149 4.6 Spatial organisation 150 4.7 Presentation 151 4.8 Design process 154 6 Visual Impairment and Multisensory Architecture 157 1 Architecture-Visual Impairment Relations 158 1.1 Altered body, changed engagement with the environment 158 1.2 Learning from people with a visual impairment 164 2 Multisensory Space in Architecture 167 2.1 Extending the notion of space 167 2.2 Multisensory space 170 2.3 Graphic analysis of multisensory space 173 3 Adding Multisensory Qualities to Architecture 187 3.1 Getting to know a building and site 187 3.2 Way-finding, orientation and place making 189 3.3 Material selection 190 3.4 More-than-visual aesthetics 192 4 Concluding Remarks 193 7 Scaling Haptics—Haptic Scaling 195 1 Introduction 196 2 Staging the Question of Scale and Haptic Perception 197 3 Haptic Design Tools for a Dynamic Process 199 4 Haptic Design Tools and Haptic Design Qualities 202 5 Conclusion 206 8 Visuo-Haptic Models 209 1 Conceiving and Testing Visuo-Haptic Design Artefacts 210 1.1 Three artefacts, three scales 210 1.2 User representation and user involvement 212 1.3 Inscribed psycho-motor competencies: haptic perception 213 1.4 Inscribed cognitive competencies: memory and reinterpretation 215 1.5 Inscribed social competencies: communicating design 217 2 Using visuo-haptic design artefacts in a design meeting 218 2.1 Providing a basis for social interactions 219 2.2 Building an understanding of the spatial configuration 223 2.3 Facilitating for preferential perceptual engagements 225 3 Concluding Remarks 227 9 Conclusion 229 1 Learning from Visual Impairment 229 2 Research Approach 230 3 Multisensory Space in Architecture 231 4 Exchanging Multisensory Spatial Knowledge 233 5 Designing from and for Blind Perception 235 6 Involvement of User/Experts 235 7 Future Research 238 8 Final Thoughts 240 Bibliography 243 Publications 255nrpages: 256status: publishe

Blindness and multi-sensoriality in architecture. The case of Carlos Mourão Pereira

The buildings architects design are multi-sensory in nature and much richer than the visual aspects that get most attention during the design process and discussions afterwards. There have been some reactions against this visual bias both from within the architectural discipline as well as from the field of disability studies. Persons who are visually impaired perceive the built environment very differently and pay more attention to tactile, haptic, auditory and olfactory aspects. A cultural model of disability can help in understanding how disability can critique this visual bias in architecture. It can even help in overcoming this bias. A dialogue between architects and people with a visual impairment can therefore contribute to a more multi-sensory design approach to architecture. In this paper we discuss the sea bathing facility designed by Carlos Mourão Pereira and especially the relation between its multi-sensory aspects and the process of becoming blind. Pereira lost his sight in 2006—after an extensive career in architecture—and develops his architecture from the new insights he gains. His blindness challenges his understanding of aesthetics in architecture, but also his sense of architectural space. Even in the way he explains this project, he searches for more-than-visual representations to shift the attention of the ‘spectator’ towards a more profound sensory awareness.status: publishe

Involving Blind User/Experts in Architectural Design: Conception and Use of More-Than-Visual Design Artefacts

Architectural design as collaborative practice relies on using representational artefacts. However, these artefacts and their use are prone to a visual bias, which may pose problems in co-designing with vision impaired people. This article studies how we can develop representational artefacts to support a discussion between architects and blind people, and how these artefacts mediate the discussion. We performed a 3-month focussed ethnography using participant observation in an architectural design firm involved in a competition design. In agreement with the architects, we introduced two blind persons as user/expert at distinct moments. Together, we developed and tested visuo-haptic design representations. We analyse how these representations were conceived and used. We first discuss how the representations perceptually and cognitively support verbal and gestural communication. Secondly, we explain why, after having analysed their use in a design meeting, we move from the term ‘tactile model’ to ‘visuo-haptic model’. And thirdly, we discuss how the ownership of the models shifts and how that relates to the ownership of the design. To conclude, visuo-haptic design representations can support aspects of co-design with blind people, but raise further questions regarding the role of representation in co-design in general.epub ahead of printstatus: Published onlin

Mobilizing Disability Experience to Inform Architectural Practice: Lessons Learned from a Field Study

Through their bodily interaction with the designed environment, disabled people can detect obstacles and appreciate spatial qualities architects may not be attuned to. While designers in several disciplines acknowledge disabled people as lead or critical users, in architectural practice their embodied experience is hardly recognized as a valuable resource for design. In this article, we therefore investigate what professional architects could learn from disabled people. To this end, the article reports on a field study, set up to explore ways of mobilizing disabled people’s embodied experience to inform architectural practice. Analysis of the field study’s outcome suggests that mobilizing this experience does not only add nuance to the existing accessibility standards, but also offers architects rich insights into building qualities that surpass these standards

Rendering the tacit observable in the learning process of a changing body

To address the visual bias in architectural design, we explore ways to include vision impaired persons in architects’ design process. In this context we studied the development of non-visual experiential knowledge in the process of becoming blind to explore its potential in designing multisensory space. A postphenomenological framework provides us a way of understanding the continuum of different relations between body and world. How we gain knowledge of our world depends on the situation and ranges from more tacit background and embodiment relations to more explicit alterity and hermeneutic relations. By analyzing John Hull’s written accounts of becoming blind, we learn how his awareness of a multisensory environment grew. Because of his changing body, he gradually built up connoisseurship in engaging with his environments. Due to the gradual nature of the process, his first experiences were still explicit to himself, and his written accounts thereof can make explicit his gradually acquired connoisseurship to us. Closer to architects’ design process are the processes of becoming blind that practicing architects Carlos Mourão Pereira and Christopher Downey underwent. Our interviews with them, analysis of their design tools and observations of Pereira’s engagement with buildings, suggest that they underwent a similar process as Hull in which their connoisseurship became explicit to them. Moreover, they recognized the potential of their newly acquired skills and knowledge for design practice. In making the move to design, their knowledge becomes explicit not only as verbal account, but also in the shapes and materiality of their designs. Their design expertise, acquired before losing their sight, becomes explicit too. As their body changes, their expertise in using visual design artefacts becomes obstructed. Observations of the learning processes of changing bodies (and thus also changing body-world relations) can thus make explicit both newly acquired connoisseurship as well as previously acquired expertise, the latter in its failing.status: publishe

Scaling Haptics - Haptic Scaling. Studying scale and scaling in the haptic design process of two architects who lost their sight

We explore how two architects who lost their sight found ways of continuing their practice. Both developed their own design tools, based partly on traditional scaled representations in architecture. How do they cope with scale in these tools which are mostly used in a haptic way? And how does this haptic designing relate to the haptic qualities of their designs? We conclude that, for the haptic design process we observed, the notion of scale can be expanded from a relation between conception and perception to a relation between perception in the design process and perception of the built form.status: publishe

Mobilizing disability experience to inform architectural practice. Lessons learned from a field study

© 2015 IEEE. Through their bodily interaction with the designed environment, disabled people are able to appreciate qualities designers may not be attuned to. In architectural practice, however disability experience is hardly acknowledged as a valuable resource for design. Since attitudes developed in the educational settings are carried into people's professional careers, this paper examines the added value of mobilizing disability experience to inform architectural education. To this end it analyses the course work of 29 architecture students who attended a course on inclusive design and, in this context, analysed a building in interaction with disabled people. Findings suggest that this interaction contributed to raising students' awareness about the built environment's impact, human variability, and the limits of empathy. In addition, it fostered students' insight into accessibility issues beyond the legal standards, and enriched their understanding of space. This awareness and insight in turn triggered a change in students' attitude towards disabled people. Further research is needed to examine the sustainability of these effects after students have graduated and gained experience in architectural practice.status: publishe

Reality check: Notions of accessibility in today’s architectural design practice

Understandings of accessibility evolved from focusing on wheelchair accessibility to more integrated notions like inclusive design, according to which everybody should be able to use space in an equitable and independent way. In addition, architectural design practice witnessed the arrival of new professional actors in project design and delivery, including accessibility advisors. In light of these evolutions, the study presented here investigates how accessibility is understood and thought of in architectural design practice today, and what motivates architects to collaborate with accessibility advisors. Interviews with professional architects and accessibility advisors they worked with suggest that, in today’s architectural design practice, interpretations of accessibility stretch from strictly following accessibility legislation to a broader interest (displayed by architects) or more integrated forms of advice (offered by advisors). The wish to attend to the diversity in people’s abilities and conditions exists, but is not fulfilled by legislation, and the norms and procedures it imposes. The presence of professional accessibility advice holds potential to reconcile both, provided that a synergy with legal procedures is found and that advisors’ roles can be developed from checking whether design proposals meet accessibility legislation to informing architects about diverse situations of use and offering them best practice examples.status: publishe

Ruimtelijke beleving: ervaringsdeskundigen als waardevolle bron van ontwerpkennis

In de top drie van wat architecten belangrijk vinden, staat ruimtelijke beleving op nummer één. Om in te schatten hoe gebruikers een ontwerp zullen beleven, kan een nauwe samenwerking met mensen met een beperking helpen. Deze ervaringsdeskundigen herkennen immers ruimtelijke kwaliteiten en obstakels waarvan architecten zich niet altijd bewust zijn. Hoewel de toegankelijkheidswetgeving obstakels identificeert en een kader schetst om deze te vermijden, blijft de integratie ervan in een ontwerp lastig. De opgelegde afmetingen bieden architecten immers weinig inzicht in het hoe en waarom ervan. Bovendien focust de wetgeving voornamelijk op rolstoelgebruikers, en komen ruimtelijke kwaliteiten nauwelijks aan bod. Een complementaire aanpak dringt zich dus op: de ervaringsdeskundigheid van mensen met een beperking inschakelen als bron van ontwerpkennis.no issnstatus: publishe